Ontarians earning $150,000 and up will be slapped with an income tax increase in Thursday’s budget, the Star has learned.

At the same time, Ontario’s lowest paid public servants — personal support workers who help seniors remain in their homes yet make as little as $12.50 an hour — will finally be getting an across-the-board raise.

The personal support workers who care for the elderly are to receive $4-an-hour pay increase to $16.50 over the next two years in Thursday’s spending plan.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa declined to discuss details of any tax changes, emphasizing the raises for the 34,000 employees that will cost $50 million this year should be “offset” by savings to the health-care system.

“This is about making certain that we retain, attract, and deploy those resources where we’re going to get a better return for that investment,” Sousa said Tuesday.

Sources told the Star the new tax will be levied only on income earned above $150,000. That means someone making $200,000 would pay additional tax on the $50,000 above the threshold.

It will be charged on about 260,000 individuals — not households with combined incomes of $150,000 — and Liberal insiders say it is “very popular” in focus groups the party has commissioned against the backdrop of a possible June election.

Indeed, it could bring in an additional $650 million to a provincial treasury saddled with an $11.3 billion budget deficit last year.

In a bid to appease NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, whose party has propped up the minority Liberals for two years, Sousa and Premier Kathleen Wynne have repeatedly pledged to avoid hiking taxes on “middle-income” earners.

The budget will also include tax hikes for tobacco and aviation fuel, according to a document obtained by The Canadian Press.

Another potentially popular electoral move is Tuesday’s boost to personal support workers, which followed last week’s promise to pay daycare employees more.

Health Minister Deb Matthews noted it can cost $1,000 a day to tend to someone in a hospital so home care is a more economical option that has the added bonus of being preferred by most seniors.

Matthews said there is a $1.50 hourly increase retroactive to April 1 and, provided Sousa’s budget passes, another $1.50 April 1, 2015, and the final $1 on April 1, 2016.

Her announcement at the Toronto Reference Library was greeted by cheers and a standing ovation from scores of Service Employees International Union workers in attendance.

“This is an exciting day for all homecare and community care personal support workers in Ontario,” said SEIU Healthcare president Sharleen Stewart.

The SEIU had lobbied the government aggressively with its “Sweet $16” campaign to improve the home-care system.

At Queen’s Park, the New Democrats, who also rely on the SEIU’s political support, remain coy on whether they will pass Thursday’s budget.

Horwath stressed that she wants to read Sousa’s fiscal blueprint before determining what to do.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said his party will vote to defeat the budget.

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